The Seed Within the Loss
by Furitaurus
Summary: Short story. Misty returns to Cerulean after a long absence, only to discover she's been severely let down by those she trusted, leaving her devastated and confused. Chapter 1 edited   additional content. Chapter 2 unedited. COMPLETED. R&R, Cheers.
1. Chapter 1

The Seed Within The Loss

_I do not own any of the rights to Pokémon, any of its characters or affiliates that appear in this story, only this story, in and of itself, is my own and has not been made for financial gain._

_The title was inspired from a quote by Malcolm X_

_Fore-notes:_

_For the purposes of understanding the time-line of this story and how events fit with the cannon (if at all), I assume that when Ash and Brock parted ways with Misty, Ash and Misty were twelve and Brock seventeen (they were apparently ten and fifteen respectively when they first started travelling together and I see one year for the Indigo league and one year for the Johto League as being a rational time lapse, despite none of the characters ever celebrating a birthday in the animé.)_

_I have not watched Pokémon beyond season Nine, nor any of the films, save for the first one, so if any aspects of this story seem at odds with events beyond that season and the remaining films, just assume that that is the reason._

Prologue

The quest to becoming a Pokémon Master is a dream held by committed trainers across the world, a dream for many of course, for there are no shortage of trainers on this planet. But only the most learned and experienced trainers ever come to the realisation that the dream of being a Pokémon Master will always remain just that. If they were to be asked why this is the case they would all say the same thing: How can you become a Master, when the journey to that end, never ends?

It was a sad and pessimistic way of looking at it and the day Ash Ketchum realised this harsh truth, was the day he found himself lacking the spark that had been with him from day one on his journey through the world of Pokémon. For a time this loss of spark affected him and his Pokémon, for although he was an optimist, almost to a fault, what drove his optimism was knowing that there was a goal out there that he could achieve someday. Knowing he would never achieve his goal in literal terms changed all that and for a time his personality lost it's lustre and caused him to suffer needless defeats at the hands of trainers who he knew he should have beaten.

It was only after talking to Brock and Misty that his spirit was rekindled; having something of an epiphany in the process. The old Ash had returned; he was still as driven as he had ever been but now he had a more simple goal: If it wasn't possible to be a Pokémon master, then he was going to make sure that he at least became the best trainer who had ever lived. In his mind that meant winning every championship title that was out there to win and then one day mounting a challenge on the elite four and to defeat them and then their champion. It was a grandiose goal, especially after the introduction of an official rule, when Ash was 14, that meant gym badges won during one particular season could not be used to enter a league at a later season. But it was still a goal he was happy with and utterly determined to pursue.

This crisis and revelation was barely a quarter of the way through his second journey across Sinnoh, seeking to conquer that region's battle frontier and and the Championship. He had last year conquered Johto's Battle Frontier and the Johto Championship the year before that; not a bad set of accomplishments for a 16 year old trainer, who could add those accolades to his long standing Orange League Championship victory.

It was also after victory at the Johto Battle Frontier that he decided he didn't want to have to travel across Sinnoh and Hoenn two more times each if he could help it, so he set himself and his faithful Pokémon the mammoth challenge of simultaneously taking both the League Championships and Battle Frontiers one region at a time, starting with Sinnoh.

This was his most memorable year as a trainer, for he accomplished exactly what he set out to do in Sinnoh, becoming both League and Battle Frontier champion and word began to spread in all directions of a talented and ambitious powerhouse of a trainer, heading towards the Hoenn region.

Sadly for Ash, he could not repeat his double feat in Hoenn; he won the Battle Frontier but was defeated in the League final by his old friend and rival, Harrison, who was defending his home region title, which he had won the year before.

It was a bitter blow for Ash, but not the first one he had ever suffered in a tournament, so he swiftly got over it and set about winning a new set of badges from the gym leaders of Hoenn once again, starting as he had the last two times with Roxanne and planning to work his way through to Juan. His journeys in recent years had been done alone, without the company of May or Dawn, mostly due to them being in other regions engaging in Pokémon Contests.

Brock was also no longer travelling around with Ash, having made the difficult decision to go his own way in the world, feeling he had gained enough experience and knowledge from his travels with Ash to start up his own Pokémon breeding practice. Ash kept in touch with Brock, but their separation and Brock's new career caused their relationship to evolve over the following years. They were as friendly with each other as ever but they now had a more professional edge in their relationship. Ash had always known Brock knew how to get the best out of a Pokémon through raising them, feeding them and managing them properly, but they were skills that Ash had always taken for granted, when Brock travelled with him.

After Brock's departure, Ash noticed a changed in his Pokémon. They were all powerful and well trained, no doubting that, and he kept on winning against trainers he met on his travels, but something was not right. His battles seemed somehow harder, like he and his Pokémon were making more of a dog's dinner out of their battles. There was a minute loss in their energy, strength, endurance, reflex and response times that to an amateur trainer would not have been noticeable, but to Ash it had stood out like a sore thumb and was troubling.

He swiftly came to the conclusion that Brock's Pokémon food was more than just better than the food Ash made, it was in fact quite exceptionally nutritious and tailored specifically to the needs of each Pokémon type. The young man he had met at his very first gym battle had come a very long way since he first departed Pewter City. After this revelation, Ash spent a lot of time having phone conversations with Brock about what food to feed his current Pokémon, exactly how to make it and always consulted him when he caught a new one. To Ash's credit, he learned fast and his cooking skills considerably improved over the months that followed and consequently the edge that his Pokémon had lost, returned with a vengeance.

From that point onwards, anything relating to taking care of his Pokémon that he was not entirely sure about, he contacted Brock. This precipitated a more formal, professional relationship between the two, but no loss of warmth.

But it was the evolution of Ash's relationship with Misty that underwent the most significant evolution, after having first undergone a process of slight devolution due to distance and time. The changes of which this story is centred around.

A Life Torn Down

The cool spring air braced Misty and whipped her wavy shoulder length orange hair about as she gently cycled her way towards her beautiful home-town of Cerulean City. Her anticipation of returning home to her sisters, her Pokémon and her long established life as the Cerulean City gym leader was almost palpable to her. She did not speed herself up however, for she had been cycling for too long and lacked the energy, but she also knew that the longer she took on this last leg of her journey the sweeter the feeling would be for her and those awaiting her return when she got there.

At least she hoped there would be people waiting for her to return. She knew her sisters too well and had prepared herself in the back of her mind for at least two of them to not be waiting at the gym for her. "P_robably Violet and Lily knowing those two,_" she thought.

It had been a long time since Misty had last been the attending gym leader in Cerulean; three days over six months to be precise and it was a month prior to that, that she forged an agreement with Lorelai of the Elite Four, to study with great depth under her, the water Pokémon that they both adored so greatly.

It was always Misty's greatest wish to be taught by Lorelai from the day she decided as a little girl, to become a water Pokémon trainer, for there was no higher authority than Lorelai, when it came to training water Pokémon.

With the agreement fixed she informed her sisters of her plan to take a break from being the gym leader to improve herself as a trainer. Her sisters were particularly impressed when she informed them of whom she would be studying under, but less enthusiastic were they of their little sister's request to take over gym duties for the time being. They knew how to do the job, but when Misty took over full time after she left Ash and Brock all those years ago, Daisy, Violet and Lily had taken a significant back seat to Misty, which to be fair, suited them just fine as they had other pursuits in mind.

All Misty was expecting of them was keep the gym running, nothing more nothing less, she wasn't even expecting them to exert themselves too much, she knew her sisters too well for that, but it was no exertion to simply keep a gym serving it's function, and certainly not for six months.

She sighed to herself because she was expecting to have to do a lot of brushing and scrubbing of the floors when she returned; a job her sisters truly loathed. Regardless, it was part of the job and she looked forward to the sense of accomplishment she always got from performing those seemingly mundane tasks. Most of all of course, she looked forward to seeing the Pokémon she had left at the gym when she had departed; Horsea, Dewgong and Starmie. She had to leave some of her faithful companions for her sisters to use in gym battles and she hoped they had put them to good use.

Misty's accomplishments were numerous since becoming gym leader as her life was more tumultuous than she could have anticipated. She was an accomplished and respected gym leader who was now in possession of an impressive variety of water Pokémon species.

She'd had a number of unpleasant encounters with the ever determined and ever despicable Butch and his partner Cassidy, the pair of which, unlike Jesse and James who were forever in pursuit of Ash's Pikachu, never seemed to show up in pursuit of the same objectives they had the previous time she had encountered them. It had always worried Misty that the reason their foul objectives changed all the time was because they were managing to accomplish their tasks elsewhere, out of Misty's reach. She couldn't actively seek those two out; the police were doing that, but if ever she got wind that they were in her beloved city, she made it a point to close the gym and chase them out of town like an angry Rhydon protecting her territory.

There had been other developments too; four years ago a new and very exclusive Championship reserved specifically for the gym leaders of all four regions was set up, with the winner receiving a substantial cash prize, not to mention the great prestige that came with victory.

Naturally, Misty entered from the onset, relishing the prospect of battling some of the most respected trainers in the world. The first three tournaments she did reasonably well in, never failing to make the quarter final stage of the tournament, but the last tournament she went to was a disaster, losing in the first round to Candice from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh. It was that loss that eventually prompted her to seek the teachings of Lorelai in the first place.

Now she felt like a whole new trainer with a lot of new knowledge and experience under her belt, which she greatly looked forward to putting to good use in the gym and the next tournament, which was a few months away.

Her excitement peaked as she reached the crest of the last hill between her and the gym. Then she slammed on the brakes, skidding to an abrupt halt, the look of excitement on her face melting away faster than a snowman in a hot bath, to be replaced with a look of shock and utter panic.

The building she was looking at was not her gym, or at least it didn't look like her gym. Gone was the giant Dewgong sculpture that adorned her gym, gone too were the sea wave sculptures that circumnavigated the gym, only the yellow and pink striped roof told her that she was indeed where she thought she was. She also saw a handful of workmen walking in and out of the gym, bringing out fixtures and fittings that belonged in the gym and to her horror, dumping them into a disposal truck.

Frozen for but a moment she surged forward, almost recklessly quick in panic. What was the meaning of this? Why was her gym, her life, being taken apart piece by piece? She had to find the answers and the workmen were the most immediate source. Less than 10 meters from the nearest man she snatched on the brakes and ground to a halt.

"Hey!" she yelled, leaping off the bike and letting it clatter to the floor. "What's the meaning of this? What are you doing to the gym? Why are you taking it apart?" she screeched, dashing up to the startled man, clad in a navy blue jump suit and hard hat, who looked to be in his early thirties.

"Sorry miss, the Cerulean Gym was shut down a couple of weeks ago by the Pokémon Inspection Agency. After that, the gym came under the ownership of the Cerulean City Council who hired our company to gut the place in preparation for putting it on the market to whoever wants to buy it," said the man.

"It was shut down by the P.I.A! Why!" she forced out between frantic breaths.

"I don't know the full details, only that they had received word of poor standards at the gym and so they sent out an Agent to inspect the place and it failed to meet expected standards, so it was shut down," he informed Misty, concern forming on his brow. "I guess you must be a trainer after the Cascade badge, sorry if you came all this way for nothing, miss, but there's not much anyone here can do for you I'm afraid."

Misty felt like she's been punched in the stomach and dropped to her knees, vacantly staring at the ground.

"I'm more than just a trainer, I came here to resume being the Cerulean City gym leader in place of my sisters," she was talking to the man, but her voice seemed detached, almost distant and she didn't look at him when she said it.

"Oh, I guess that means you must be, uh..." he started clicking his fingers, trying to remember the name he had heard.

"Misty," she finished for him.

"Right, sorry. Well, I'm afraid there's not much I can do for you Misty and..." he was cut off by another worker calling him from the door-less entrance to the gym. "Hey, Eddie, what's keeping you? We need you in here, there's a huge chunk of this coral stuff that we need an extra pair of hands to shift!"

"Yeah, I'll be with you in a second Frank!" the man, now known as Eddie called back.

An ashen faced Misty struggled to get to her feet and when she did, found herself leaning against the nearby truck, that was being filled up with components of a building that had been her life, now due for disposal in some plant or waste dump.

"Seven years," she whispered to herself. Just the utterance of how many years of her, life were being so casually desecrated, coupled with the anxiety, caused vomit to rise up her throat, which she had neither the energy nor will to stop. She fell to her knees once again and made sure that her back was to Eddie so she could at least spare herself the indignity and him the unpleasantness of watching her, though she could do nothing about the noise of her regurgitation.

Thankfully, Eddie, being a builder by trade, was not so easily unsettled by such things and indeed must have felt pity for her, passing her a small pocket sized pack of tissues from his jump suit pocket.

"You look terrible kiddo, you want me to take you to the hospital or something?" he kindly offered.

Misty groggily got back to her feet after wiping her mouth and blowing her nose. "That's kind of you, but I'll be alright I think," she said, shakily. "Besides your co-workers need you to..." she didn't want to finish her sentence, but merely pointed half heartedly towards the door. She took a deep breath. "I need to go find someone who can tell me exactly what lead to all this."

Eddie let Misty go, but insisted she walk and not cycle to wherever she intended to go and that she also take a mint from a pack he had to suck on 'to help settle your stomach' so he had told her. Misty obliged both requests, though she suspected the mint had nothing to do with settling her stomach. Although her voice had been quivering when she said it, Eddie had noticed a veiled menace about her intention to 'find someone' and was glad he was not going to have to be the one to explain things to Misty.

Her first thought was to find her sisters for an explanation, but she knew if they had any sense right now they would be far away from Cerulean. "_Well, they're therefore bound to be in Cerulean somewhere,_" she thought, her shock, fear and panic steadily giving way to anger.

"_At this time of day they could be anywhere in this city," _she figured. _"I guess the only other person who might know anything would be nurse Joy."_

With her mind made up, she set off for the Pokémon Centre, determined to get some answers, though she knew that she had to keep herself controlled when talking to nurse Joy; she was a good friend of hers and this situation was hardly her fault.

Misty walked through the sliding glass doors of the Pokémon Centre and set her eyes on nurse Joy, who was talking to another nurse Joy on a video phone.

"Oh, I think you have a visitor, cousin, we'll talk later, right?" said the nurse Joy on the screen.

"Sure, catch you later!" the nurse Joy in front of Misty beamed before logging off. "How can I help, oh!" she exclaimed, cutting her greeting short upon realising it was Misty. Her expression was a mixture of happiness and worry. Clearly nurse Joy had been looking forward to Misty's return but was anticipating this conversation to be not as merry as she would have wanted it to be, which told Misty that she certainly knew something discomforting.

"Misty! You're back! Welcome home, dear!" Joy tried to sound uplifting, but Misty's face was quite stoic. On realising this, Joy let out a defeated sigh, "I'm so sorry about the gym Misty, I really am. I was staggered myself when I first received word of the P.I.A closing it," Joy's face was sympathetic in a manner that only a nurse Joy could pull off, but Misty was not much moved.

"Tell me what you know, everything you know about why it was closed, everything you can recount between the time I left and the P.I.A. becoming involved." Misty's words were measured, slightly hoarse, probably because of vomiting.

"We should sit down," said Joy, motioning to a set of leather seats. When they sat down Joy explained everything she knew, which seemed to be almost everything. According to Joy, for the first few months, things seemed fine at the gym; her sisters were doing as they had been asked and there was no problem. But shortly after the halfway mark in Misty's absence things started to decline in the gym; it had started out purely as off hand comments from trainers visiting the Pokémon centre, after having first been to the gym, that Joy had picked up on. The most common comment being on the cleanliness of the facility. As Misty had anticipated when she was still cycling, her sisters had slacked off on cleaning duties, but far sooner than she thought. Things did not stop there though and by the fourth month Joy was starting to receive complaints from visiting trainers that the gym leaders were just giving out badges without even making trainers fight for them and a couple of trainers were unable to even get badge at all as there had been no gym leader in attendance; they just found the gym straight up closed for a specified, but usually unreasonable, length of time.

Nurse Joy told Misty that she regretted not intervening sooner; had she done so, things might have turned out differently. The whole state of affairs achieved its nadir during the fifth month when trainers started showing up at the gym, which seemed open, only to find the whole place devoid of occupants, save for the water Pokémon that Misty had left, swimming in the pool that at this point was due for a water change. Sadly when word of this reached nurse Joy she was professionally and morally obliged to inform the P.I.A. of what was going on at the gym. As she put it, disgruntled trainers were one thing, but what she would not tolerate was Pokémon living in substandard conditions.

The P.I.A. showed up unannounced, which was their normal operating policy, but was not impressed with what it found at the gym. Even if the gym itself had been in adequate condition, which according to the official involved, it fell just short of, the total absence of any gym leader during normal working hours was reason enough to serve notice and close it.

Misty was left speechless, despite her anger, she had wanted to believe that there was some reasonable explanation for her sister's letting this happen; that within this nightmare there was something, anything, to exonerate them. As Joy finished telling Misty the full account, she realised that the only people who would be able to shed any rational light on why her sisters had allowed this to happen were her sisters themselves, but she feared the worst.

"I need to find my sisters, I need to find them now," the despair in Misty's voice was evident as she got out of the chair.

Nurse Joy looked at her with grave concern. "You mean you haven't spoken to them? I thought you had already seen them and wanted to hear an account of what happened from someone other than them!"

Misty looked surprised for a moment. "No, they weren't at the gym when I got back."

"Well, how about you take another look, maybe they were just late in showing up?" suggested Joy.

It made sense to her, her sisters were notorious for being late to anything, always spending more time taking care of their appearance than being prompt. She did not like the idea of going back to the gym, she almost feared to look at the place in its current state. Right now though the more important matter at hand was finding her sisters and hearing the truth from their mouths.

"Alright, I'll go and take a look again. If they aren't there, then I'll come back here and I won't be much more than ten minutes. If by some stroke of luck they should wander by here, can you please keep them here until I get back, please?" she asked.

"Of course," replied Joy.

As she walked towards the gym, the sinking feeling in Misty's belly deepened. She did not feel nauseous, like before. No, this was a pit of dread feeling, braced by something else, buried deeper still; Anger. Both feelings steadily grew as she drew nearer to the gym, until finally she stepped onto the grounds that used to be part of the gym and surveyed the scene before her. It was past five o'clock and the contractors had gone home for the day. There was almost no one in sight, almost anyway. Misty locked onto three figures standing some fifty meters away, looking out towards the direction that she had cycled down, her sisters had made an appearance. They appeared to be talking, but she could not ascertain what about and she decided to approach them quietly, hoping to catch onto the conversation; she felt it unlikely that they would be talking about anything other than herself and the gym.

As she closed the distance she started to catch onto the conversation and realised that they were not, in fact, talking about her but were talking about fashion and modelling. It was surprising to Misty and yet she found the conversation topic to be typical of her sisters, but what wasn't so typical was the tempo of the conversation. Normally the three women were exuberant and wide eyed when speaking of such things, right now they were speaking in near monotones and were far from animated.

"_They're talking about fashion to keep themselves calm, they are genuinely scared of my return. Well, this is it you three; sink or swim time,"_ Misty thought to herself.

She had managed to close the gap between her and her sisters to barely less than five meters when she caught Violet, her indigo haired sister and second eldest, break off from the fashion conversation to say to both Daisy, the golden haired and eldest of all the sisters and Lily, the pink haired and second youngest of all four of them. "We can try to stay as calm as we like, it won't change Misty's reaction; at best she's going to go insane, at worst, she's going to want kill us." she was clearly on edge.

"That depends on how good your explanation is, doesn't it?" said Misty ominously, making her three sisters jump out of their skins and spin around.

"Misty?" cried Daisy. "How long have you been back there?"

"Long enough," growled Misty. "So, who of you three has an explanation good enough to make me think you aren't all completely to blame for this, or that there is something within your blame that makes all this somehow forgivable?"

"I'll be honest," said Daisy with a sigh. "We had hoped to come up with one ourselves, but in the end we just knew it would only make things worse; we figured if we had cooked up a story you would have heard something different from someone else sooner or later that would have blown our story wide open."

The story of what went wrong was told mostly by Daisy with input, where necessary, from Violet and Lily and throughout it all Misty kept her silence, analysing in her own mind everything that was being said. It was everything she feared to hear and nothing that she had hoped and once again none of it was surprising to her. The three sisters had neglected the gym for the same reasons they always gave when they had not been around at any other time in their lives; the pursuit of fame, fortune, stardom and other such glittering avenues. All this, coupled with their innate lack of organisational skills, had meant that there were, all too often, extended periods of time where they simply were not around.

By the time the girls had finished as full account as they could muster, nearly an hour had passed and now it was Misty's turn to speak.

"Seven years," she hissed. "Seven years of my life I devoted to that gym. For seven years I poured my heart and soul into running that gym. For seven years I've raised Pokémon that I love so dearly in a place that I was able to call home and turned into a place that the Pokémon themselves could call home!" the thunder in Misty's voice was rising with each sentence and with each uttered sentence her face cracked a little more.

"Seven years worth of hard work, dedication, memories and that which I built my life around has been taken apart piece by piece and I will never see again! All this for no better reason than because the three people who I thought I could trust to do a reasonable job of taking care of it for a measly six months failed so badly because they were so selfish and unwilling to change their lifestyles to accommodate their own sister's request?" Misty was shouting now, but her voice was starting to break.

"And now I'm left with absolutely nothing, other than my Pokémon, who I now have to tell..." she faltered, putting her hand to her mouth, her anger quickly turning to sorrow, realising now that she would have to tell her Pokémon that they would not be able to go home, despite knowing how much they wanted to. Just thinking about the sad looks that would adorn their faces was too much to bear for her.

"Oh, God!" she cried hoarsely, her vocal chords tightening with her grief, her cheeks flushed and damp from tears. She turned away from her sisters, unwilling to let them see her like this and unable to even look at them.

Daisy moved to within arms reach of Misty. "Misty, we're so sorry for..." Daisy found herself cut off, for she had placed her hand on Misty's shoulder as she said the word 'sorry' and to Misty, it felt like Pikachu had used a thunderbolt on her. In a split second, before either she or Daisy had had time to think, her anguish turned into a reflexive rage, whereupon she wheeled round and in the same motion, backhanded Daisy in the face with enough force to send her sprawling, clutching her face in agony.

"Daisy!" screamed the other two, leaping to her side. Misty however, was not finished.

"Sorry? You're sorry? Sorry isn't going to bring back my life, which gets bearer and bearer each time something is removed from this gym! Look at that building, you want a physical representation of what is now becoming of me, there it is!" She roared, pointing at the now barren looking gym.

"No, 'sorry' isn't going to cut it this time! I doubt anything ever will! But I tell you what, I'll do you a favour and spare you the bother of looking for a way to cut it; because I never want to see you three again, ever! You've destroyed my life!"

Misty didn't even give them a chance to respond and stormed off into the approaching dusk, back into the city. Violet tried to follow her, but Daisy, who had recovered a little told her to give Misty her space.

As she half walked, half staggered towards the Pokémon centre, her rage began to subside as the adrenaline waned and she soon found herself back with what she had before her outburst; absolute despair.

She collapsed in a heap, just outside the entrance to the Pokémon centre and wept profusely. A few passer bys noticed the weeping young woman, but none seemed to care enough to stop and ask her what the matter was. It was nurse Joy, overhearing Misty from the front desk, who came out to talk to her and get her inside, out of the approaching chill of the spring night. She took Misty to a guest bedroom, where she stayed and sat with her, listened to her recount everything her sisters had told her and comforted her as best she could. Before long she had quite a damp shoulder, but she was more than willing to bear that.

When Misty had finished, Joy, who had just processed the fact that Misty was no longer on speaking terms with her own family members and was probably now feeling quite alone, asked Misty. "Is there anyone you'd like me to contact, anyone you'd like to have around to talk to or just have the company of?"

Misty's life as a gym leader had always meant she was busy and had little time to forge any deep or long term friendships, save for those with her Pokémon and nurse Joy. But at least with the gym she was always meeting new people whom she had things in common with, so throughout the years she never found herself wanting for any other particular form of companionship. It was a gap in her life that her Pokémon had filled perfectly well and visiting trainers provided brief but refreshing changes. Then of course there were her sisters, who had always visited, when they weren't gallivanting on modelling or acting tours or going on shopping binges. She had also received random visits from Tracey every three or four months to shake things up and as much as she hated them, unwanted visits to Cerulean by Butch and Cassidy always gave an injection of excitement to her life, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

But most of these things in her life hinged on having a gym to go to and with that out of commission and the newly burned bridge that was her relationship with her three sisters, Misty suddenly felt herself feeling very alone and completely flummoxed as to what to do next. The long day of cycling followed by the emotional roller-coaster of the last few hours had left her completely unable to think straight and totally exhausted.

At nurse Joy's question, Misty's mind clawed through the murky, black chaos that was her own thoughts, to retrieve the one name that represented what she needed most right now; reliability and a sense of security, sleepily she murmured it to Joy, "Ash, Ash Ketchum. It'd be nice to see him right about now."

However, Misty knew asking for Ash was a case of clutching at straws because Ash was somewhere in the Hoenn region, chasing the Hoenn League title without relent. Finding him would be difficult enough, but even if he were found, he wasn't exactly a bike ride away; it was two days by car and ferry just to get to the outskirts of Hoenn and Misty suspected that Ash was deep into the region at this point in time.

Ash's was a name that Misty was a little surprised at herself for asking for. So much time had passed since they went their separate ways that Ash had reached a stage in her psyche where he was mostly 'out of sight, out of mind' to her. That wasn't to say she stopped liking the guy, far from it, she was always overjoyed to see him when she did; usually at league tournaments that she made a point of attending to provide support for him in battle, alongside his mother Delia and professor Oak. Ash too had even gone out of his way to attend all the gym leaders tournaments along with Brock to support her.

Outside of those events though, she rarely thought about him, and yet here he was, out of sight but very much in mind. Having Ash around made sense though. He had intangible qualities that could be very helpful to her and this predicament, for one, an absolutely unbreakable determination to get things done; after all, this was a young man who, if you told him he needed to move a mountain to save someone's life, he'd do it. For two he was very well known, especially to his friends, for his ability to think on his feet and outside the box; if he couldn't move the mountain himself, he'd capture a Tyranitar, a particularly violent Pokémon and get that to do the job for him.

Misty could use those qualities and she knew it, but she did not hold out too much for hope this time as exhaustion took her and she drifted off in nurse Joy's arms.

"You get some rest now Misty, everything's going to be OK, you wait and see," whispered Joy, laying a limp Misty onto the bed, tucking her in and stroking a few loose locks of orange hair away from her closed eyes.

"Pretty thing," she murmured, getting up to close the curtains. She turned the light off as she closed the door behind her, a glint of purpose in her eyes. Naïve

"_Why should someone so kind hearted and dedicated to Pokémon have to suffer through something like this? Unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable! You will see your friend Ash soon Misty, I'll see to it personally,"_ Joy promised herself and Misty.

If there is one thing outside of their job that a nurse Joy is good at, it's making connections and networking with those connections; virtually every Nurse Joy out there is on friendly terms with at least someone in a position of authority, whether it be members of the elite four, gym leaders, Pokémon researchers, judges, even politicians. The hub to all these connections was that every nurse Joy knows every single other nurse Joy out there and all maintain a close relationship with each other.

It was time for Joy to put the hub into action as she sent out a mass e-mail to all her relatives across Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, asking for the whereabouts of Ash Ketchum and to inform him that his friend Misty wanted him urgently. She had not asked Misty what region Ash was in and she was now loathed to wake her up to ask, so she blanketed all four regions.

"One of them must have seen him recently, surely," she told herself.

It took nearly an hour for Joy to receive responses from all her relatives, and save for two responses from the Hoenn region, all were unable to help. She read the first of the two, from the nurse Joy in Petalburg City, who told her that Ash had been there relatively recently, but this was a few weeks ago and he had long since departed, but she had heard him mention Fortree City gym as being next on his itinerary. The other e-mail was indeed from the nurse Joy in Fortree City, who to the relief of Joy, said that Ash was currently spending the night at the Fortree Pokémon Centre, readying himself and his Pokémon for a gym battle with Winona the next day. Normally she left trainers in his position to their own devices, but since it was urgent, she said she would wake him up and explain.

"_That's a relief,"_ thought Joy. _"At least he knows. Now it's time for him to come through for Misty."_

Ash and Pikachu were just drifting off to sleep when they were disturbed by a knock at his bedroom door.

"Yeah, who is it?" He asked, half heartedly.

"It's nurse Joy, Ash, I have an urgent message for you from the nurse Joy of the Cerulean City."

The mention of 'urgent' followed by 'Cerulean City' snapped Ash out of his haze.

"Misty," he whispered to himself. He leapt out of bed, catching Pikachu by surprise and sending the little electric mouse flying. Pikachu managed to perform some quick thinking aerial acrobatics to right himself before landing squarely on the floor.

"Pika-Pika!" he squeaked indignantly.

"Sorry Pikachu, but this sounds serious," he apologised to his old friend, then turned to nurse Joy, who had poked her head through the door and was now rather red in the face. A moment of puzzlement overtook the young man, before looking down and realising that he was standing in his boxer shorts.

"Oh! Er, sorry!" he mumbled, turning away from her.

"No, no, I should have waited for you to come out before barging in like that!" breathed a flustered nurse Joy, before removing her head from the doorway and closing it.

"What else did the message say? Did it mention someone called Misty?" he asked through the closed door as he pulled on his trousers.

"Yes, the message said Misty was in pretty serious trouble and she had asked nurse Joy in Cerulean to contact you," she replied.

"OK, I'll be out in a moment, but can you do me a favour?" he asked, fishing through his backpack and retrieving a Poké ball.

"Sure," said Joy as Ash opened the door, still shirtless, but at least he was trousered.

"Can you contact professor Oak in Pallet Town and transfer my Crawdaunt here for my Charizard. Let him know it's urgent, please."

"Not a problem," said nurse Joy, smiling sweetly. "And again, I'm sorry to have looked into your room without asking first," she added.

"Don't worry, no harm done. I'll see you at the front desk in a moment to pick up Charizard. Thanks nurse Joy."

As she was walking away, a small smile formed on nurse Joy's face. "Well, maybe not completely sorry," she remarked wryly, raising an eyebrow.

Her remark was not without foundation; the incessant years of travelling, mostly on foot, training with his Pokémon and eating well had been good to Ash. He wasn't as stocky as someone like Brock, but there was barely an ounce of fat on his body and as nurse joy had just witnessed, he had the well defined musculature of a runner, that was only accentuated by his light olive tone skin.

He had become a handsome young man and nurse Joy was not the first to give him a second thought. Indeed one of Ash's old friends, Casey, had confessed to having a crush on him, which he had managed to successfully and tactfully diffuse, to spare them both embarrassment and disappointment.

His brown eyes, that concealed his steely resolve complimented his hair, which was as black as ever but a little less less scruffy than it used to be. He tried, with limited success, to give it some semblance of style ever since he made the life altering decision at fifteen to put his favourite hat into retirement, as he felt he was growing out of it, both physically and mentally. He had given it to his mother to remember him by, which she was very touched to receive. In return she gave him a silver pendant in the design of a Poké ball with a lovely picture inside of him as a young boy beaming, arm in arm with a radiant Delia.

"_Just in case you ever needed something draw a little extra strength from in your travels, sweetie." _she had told him. He had done just that on many occasions since that day, especially during tournaments where it was now almost a tradition for him to kiss the pendant and tuck it inside his t-shirt just before battle commenced.

Putting on the pendant, followed by his t-shirt, jacket and backpack, Pikachu leapt onto his shoulder where he was accustomed to being. The little yellow, brown and black dynamo had not changed a whole lot over the years, though Ash new that in Pikachu years,which were shorter than human years, he was nearing thirty years old. Neither thought much about the long term implications of Pikachu ageing quicker than Ash, they just took things as they came, like always.

One thing was for certain; Pikachu was definitely appreciative of Ash's broader shoulders now he was virtually an adult; there was a lot more breathing space there.

"OK, Pikchu, have we got everything? Don't want to leave anything behind," he asked his furry friend, surveying the room.

"Pika," replied Pikachu, shaking his head.

"Good, let's go and see if nurse Joy has Charizard, I hope he's rested up, he's going to have to do some serious flying in a moment, sounds like Misty needs us there, bad," the determination in his voice was apparent. He put his hand in one of his pockets and took out a small plastic figurine of a person. The colours that had been used to give the figurine it's appearance had evidently faded over some time, but it was still straight forward to tell that it was Misty. It was in fact Misty's special lure that she had given him 7 years ago. Pikachu silently watched his trainer glide his thumb over the face of the lure, saying nothing, but letting only his brow furrow for a second before putting the memento back in his pocket with some care, but said nothing else until they reached nurse Joy.

Ash smiled to see that Nurse Joy had a Poké ball in her hand and was beaming, presumably having been successful in fulfilling Ash's request.

"Here you go Ash, one healthy and raring to go Charizard!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Thanks nurse Joy, I appreciate it. How was professor Oak? Not too annoyed at being woken up I hope?" Ash inquired.

"Oh, he was fine about it, he was still in his lab coat when we spoke." was her surprising response, usually professor Oak stopped working once he had dinner.

"Hmm, guess he must be doing a little overtime. I wonder what he's researching now?" wondered Ash aloud. Nurse Joy merely smiled and shrugged. "Anyway, I had better be going, but I have one last favour to ask of you nurse Joy; I met Winona today and told her I'd be at her gym tomorrow morning to battle her, could you contact her tomorrow and pass on my apologies for not being there and explain why, please?

"Of course," she beamed.

"Thanks again nurse Joy, I'll see you later!" he waved goodbye as he exited the glass double doors.

"Pika-pi!" chirped Pikachu waving back at Nurse Joy, who reciprocated the gesture.

The night air was still, the sky was clear and the moon shone brightly amongst the stars; a guiding light in the speckled void of space. Beautiful as the sky was, the air itself had a slight chill to it so Ash wrapped up tight and fastened his jacket hood round his head leaving only his eyes, nose and mouth exposed and told Pikachu to get into his backpack for protection. It might only have been chilly at that moment, but Ash knew that once they were flying through the sky on Charizard the wind chill was going to bite.

He tapped the button on his Poké ball to activate it and out popped Charizard in a flash of red light, who gave a grateful roar at his freedom.

"Good to see you again Charizard, I need you to fly me and Pikachu to Cerulean City; Misty's in trouble and wants us there as fast as we can. Think you can do that?" asked Ash.

Charizard was always up for a challenge and nodded his agreement, allowing Ash and Pikachu to get onto his back.

"Let's take to the skies Charizard, and don't spare the Rapidash's!" commanded Ash and with a mighty flap of his wings Charizard rose into the air, quickly picked up air speed and the three shot off into the night as fast as Charizard could manage.

It was a long journey for the three friends, even at the speed Charizard was going. As he expected, the wind was biting hard, Pikachu wasn't even poking his head out of the backpack any more, having zipped it up completely from the inside to take refuge. Ash coped as best he could, though he could no longer feel much of his face and his fingers were starting to hurt. How Charizard was coping with this he found hard to comprehend, though it was a well known fact that Charizard, like most fire type Pokémon, had a core body temperature that was so high, if any other life-form on this planet rose to that temperature, they would be killed instantly. Charizard felt hot to the touch too, a small consolation to the underside of Ash's hands but little consolation to the exposed sides.

They flew non-stop all the way to Cerulean City, Charizard's internal body compass, a mental attribute shared by all flying creatures, guiding them directly as the Murkrow flew. As they came in sight of the city, Ash took a moment to look out at the glittering ocean and noticed the faint, ethereal glow of dawn's approach.

As Charizard slowed down and dropped altitude, getting ready to land, Ash called out to Charizard, "There's the Pokémon centre Charizard!" pointing to the building adorned with a Poké ball emblem. "When we get in there I'm going to have nurse Joy give you some proper TLC, you've earned it!"

Chrizard, who by this point was breathing very heavily, could only give a muted, but appreciative growl.

They landed rather clumsily as Charizard's focus was severely frayed from exhaustion, Ash returned Charizard to his Poké ball and walked inside. Apparently, Pikachu had fallen asleep inside Ash's pack, so he thought better than to wake his dozing companion. He tapped the summons bell on the reception desk that was used to alert the resident nurse Joy that someone was waiting for them.

Apparently this nurse Joy had already been up, getting ready for the new day of work, because she did not take long to greet Ash, whom she recognised immediately.

"Oh my word, Ash, you didn't waste time getting here at all did you?" she exclaimed with a smile. "You certainly are dedicated to your friends aren't you? Misty could use that kind of dedication right now," she sighed, the smile fading somewhat.

"For Misty, coming here was a no-brainer, where is she? Is she OK? What happened? I thought she would be at her gym," he asked with rapid firing inquisitiveness.

"Whoa, one question at a time Ash, a lot has happened in the last month or so and it all came to bear at once on Misty, the poor thing, it's all hit her so hard."

Putting both hands on the reception desk and looking intently into nurse Joy's eyes he spoke. "Tell me everything you know, nurse Joy. Please," the concern in his voice moved Joy, who took him to the leather chairs where she had sat with Misty yesterday and repeated to Ash the same story she had told Misty, only now she included the event that had happened once Misty had returned. All the while Ash's face was one of disbelief. The Cerulean gym was quite significant to him as well; it was where he and Misty had their first competitive battle and where he had earned only his second ever gym badge, indeed the only Cascade Badge he had ever earned. With each revelation his mouth dropped open a little bit more, particularly the part about Misty striking Daisy, though he didn't feel he could blame her.

"Good gravy!" he muttered, once Joy had finished her account. "The Muk really has hit the fan here hasn't it?" shaking his head he got up. "Can you show me to her room? I won't wake her, I just want to see her and maybe catch a little bit of sleep whilst I'm there. She'll need to see a friendly face when she wakes up, though I'm sure you would have been just as pleasing to wake up to." he said with a sly grin to nurse Joy who smiled sweetly and blushed a little.

"My, you've certainly learned how to charm people haven't you Ash? I'll take you to her," said nurse Joy.

"Oh, just before you do," interrupted Ash taking out Charizard's Poké ball. "I only got here as quick as I did because Charizard managed to fly faster and for longer than I ever thought he was capable of. I think he deserves the special kind of care and attention that only a nurse Joy can provide," he complimented her, as passed her the Poké ball.

Clearly Ash was making Joy's day as she promised to give Charizard treatment usually reserved specially for contest Pokémon, who were usually much higher maintenance than battle Pokémon, on top of the standard treatment that she gave regularly to other Pokémon. First however she took Ash to Misty's room.

"Thanks nurse Joy, for everything you've done here. I'll see what I can do for Misty when she wakes up," he said in a quiet voice.

"She's a lovely young woman, Ash who didn't deserve what's happened, do everything you can for her. Nurses orders," Joy commanded softly.

Ash nodded and subtly opened the door and peeked in. Misty was still asleep, her back to him, so he gently stepped in and smiled at nurse Joy as he carefully closed the door behind him and crept over to a metal chair in the corner of the room. Taking care not to breathe too loudly he retrieved the chair and set it down next to Misty's bed, removed his backpack and gingerly placed it so as not to wake Pikachu, then he himself cautiously sat down, silently praying the chair would not creek, which thankfully it did not even as he put his full weight on it.

For a moment he stared sympathetically at Misty's form, listening to her slow, shallow breathing, watching her body expand and contract with each breath. She seemed so peaceful for someone whose life was now a train wreck, so far removed was her slumber from the turmoil of yesterday. He reached out his arm to stroke her hair, but stayed his hand at the last moment, for it would have been wrong of him to disturb her peace simply for a sentimental and sympathetic touch. Instead he propped his elbow on the waist high bedside cabinet and rested his head in his left hand and gently let himself slip into a shallow, but undisturbed sleep.

_Edited 06/10/10: Errors corrected and a portion of chapter two transferred to this chapter; the section where Ash is introduced to the story._


	2. Chapter 2

_A portion of the beginning of this chapter was removed and placed at the end of the first chapter at the same time this chapter was submitted, so if you have read the first chapter before this second chapter was submitted you will have missed out on that section of the story._

Two Heads Are Better than One

It was approaching nine o'clock when Ash awoke, his head was no longer in his hand but now resting on his biceps. His entire spine was curving at an angle that would have been uncomfortable had he been awake, but now that he was, he began to notice an ache in his neck and upper back that started out as being quite dull, but as he straightened himself out became a little more intense and uncomfortable. He also realised that he could not feel his arm from the elbow down to the tips of his fingers and he had absolutely no control of it whatsoever; it was just completely limp and flopped stupidly around.

His head had obviously cut off the blood circulation to his arm when it had come to rest on his biceps. He tried to stretch himself out to get his circulation going and to wake his arm up, but for now it simply looked ridiculous, though he did begin to notice the slight tingle of blood circulating back into it. He was not looking forward to the sensation intensifying as his arm woke up, which it duly did.

Suddenly all his attention left his own body and found himself wide awake when he heard Misty give a groggy moan and began to stir. Ash gave a last minute wipe of his eyes to remove the sleep dust at its corners and watched Misty come about and turn over to his direction, her eyes open by but a crack. Ash smiled at her warmly. "Hey Misty," he said looking into her widening eyes.

Misty blinked a couple of times, not sure if she was seeing what she was seeing. "Ash?" she asked.

"You rang m'lady?" Ash responded, in a humorously deep voice.

"Ash!" cried Misty, suddenly wide awake and threw herself at Ash, arms out wider than an Ursaring.

"Ha, ha! Hey, Misty, I'm glad to see you too!" Ash said, startled, but returning the hug. For a few wonderful moments there was no need to say anything they just continued the hug, holding each other's heads in their hands.

It was Misty who broke the silence and the hug, sitting up properly in bed now, she had not undressed from the previous day so she was not compromised as Ash had been last night.

"You came all the way here from Hoenn in a single night?" she was as surprised as she was delighted.

"Well, what did you expect of me? I know you well enough Misty, you never ask for anyone's help unless you're in serious trouble. You asked for me, so here I am," he said, reassuringly.

Misty pursed her lips as her eyes glazed over, but she refused to cry, instead she forced out a soothing laugh and then looked at her dear friend. "Oh, Ash, I've known you for nine years and still you're able to surprise me."

"It's what I do," he retorted.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of an opening zip.

"Pi-Pikachu!" after a decent night's sleep, Pikachu was up and lively and leapt straight into the arms of a delighted Misty, who cuddled the little bundle of electrons with great affection.

"Pikachu! God, I've missed you! How are you doing? You still keeping Ash in check I hope," she joked, throwing a smirk at Ash, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Pika-Pika Pi!" squeaked an obviously ecstatic Pikachu.

"Good!" she said, setting Pikachu on her lap to look at Ash. "Thanks for coming here though, I kind of need someone I can rely on," as she said it her smiled faded.

"Yeah, I spoke to nurse Joy when I got here, she told me everything she knew, so you don't need to retell the tale if you don't want to, unless there's anything you left out when you told nurse Joy," he said

"No, there's nothing more to tell." she admitted.

"OK, well, I guess you want ideas as to what do do now, right?" Misty merely nodded in acknowledgement. "Right, well you know me, I work best on a full stomach, how about we get some breakfast and maybe we can come up with something while we're eating."

"Pika-chu!" smiled Pikachu, liking the sound of that idea.

"OK," Misty agreed, she hadn't eaten since yesterday lunchtime and she'd brought some of that back up outside the gym, so she was very hungry.

"Good, after that I'll need to pick up Charizard, I left him in nurse Joy's care when we got here, he was pretty shattered when we landed," Ash announced.

"So that's how you got here from Hoenn? Charizard must have flown faster than sound to get here so quickly!" Misty exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, he did us both proud, but he should be nice and refreshed soon, so let's go," he ordered merrily.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, partly due to eating and partly because they were both deep in thought. By the end of their meal they looked ready to discuss what to do.

"So that builder told you that the land was now under the ownership of the Cerulean City Council, right?" asked Ash.

"Mm-hm," she responded.

"Ok, well I have an idea. This plan should get you the gym back, but it's going to require a lot of time and effort on your part, though I'm guessing you're already willing to do that, right?"

"Uh-huh," nodded Misty, her eyes beginning to light up. Ash had an expression that she had seen many times before; it was usually the one he adopted when he came up with an idea in a Pokémon battle that almost always seemed crazy but usually worked. He was once again thinking on his feet.

"Well, this is simplifying things a lot, but, the obvious solution is to buy the land and the gym back. Making it your own; a privately owned gym that still represents the Indigo League!"

Misty was not quite so impressed with what she was hearing. "Ash, I don't have that kind of money just lying around to just get up and buy the place!"

"Not yet you don't," he responded. She regarded him, quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're forgetting the Gym Leader's Championship, the cash prize from that is the biggest of any tournament and should be more than enough to buy back the gym and do some modest renovations to it, probably not enough to bring it back to it's former self, but enough to get it up and running, which would be a start wouldn't it?"

Misty shook her head, "It's a great idea in theory but in practise there are two problems; first I would need to actually win the tournament, which is a lot to place on such small odds and secondly even if I could win, I still wouldn't be able to enter in the first place, because my status as a gym leader was revoked when the P.I.A closed the gym!"

"And that's reason enough to stop you from trying, Misty? There's always a way around something, always a weakness to be tested, always a crack to be exploited. We need to find a way to persuade the Gym Leaders Championship Board to let you enter this year's tournament, so we need people to persuade them. Who do you and I know who can help us get you in?"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, considering their mental databases of friends and associates.

Misty suddenly sat up. "Lorelai! I've spent the last six months as her understudy, we became really good friends and she's a member of the Elite Four! They must have some sway with the G.L.C.B! I'll go see if I can talk to her now and explain what happened and our plan, hopefully she'll be willing to help and if we're lucky she might be able to give us some ideas of her own to help us!"

She got up and trotted off. "So I take it that means you like my plan now?" Ash called after her, just before she left the room and she flashed him a look that made him laugh.

"So Pikachu," Ash said, turning to his friend, taking out his Pokédex. "Who do we know who might be able to put in a good word to the G.L.C.B."

"Pik-a-chu," mumbled Pikachu.

The latest incarnation of the Pokédex featured a miniature fold out keyboard and electronic notepad, which Ash used to type a list of names. Over the course of ten minutes he made a strong list of people he knew, starting with the linchpin of all of them; Professor Oak, followed by Gary, who was now a fully fledged and respected scientist, making him the second Professor Oak. He also added Professors Elm, Birch and Ivy too. He also added to the list, Lance of the Elite Four, with whom he was now well acquainted and a Pokémon G-man would have some serious weight behind him.

He also decided to include Brock on the list, firstly because it was another name with weight behind it; Brock had established himself well among trainers set to visit the Indigo plateau for tournaments and competitions, who went to see him prior to heading off to the stadium, for advice or provide the desired attention to their Pokémon before the big games. His was now a will known name at the Indigo plateau and most of Kanto too.

For the time being, Ash could think of no other names to add to the list. In his list he had covered all the bases that seemed important enough; the Elite Four, Pokemon researchers, Pokemon Breeders and he suspected that he could get nurse Joy to lend her voice as well, so that was good.

"OK, Pikachu let's go and see how Misty's doing talking to Lorelai."

"Pika-Pi!" replied Pikachu, hopping onto Ash's shoulder.

Ash found Misty talking to Lorelai, she'd just finished relaying events to her and was now hoping Lorelai would come up with something. The concern the Elite Four members faced seemed to tell Ash that she was distressed by what she had heard.

"_Good,"_ thought Ash. _"If she's upset by all this she'll be more willing to help us out."_

"OK, Misty, I will do everything I can to help you," responded Lorelai. "But there's still a lot more for you to do; I may have stature in the Pokémon world but ultimately the G.L.C.B is independent of the Elite Four, you need a lot more people with social, political and economic clout behind you before you approach the Board to apply for entry into this years tournament. Speaking of the Board I strongly suggest that if you know a member of the Board, or if you know someone who does, have them back you up in front of the rest of the Board members, that should swing the decision your way. Also, you say the gym was closed by the Pokémon Inspection Agency?" inquired Lorelai.

"That's right," responded Misty, her voice sounding a little subdued.

"Well, if you know of anyone in that organisation, or know of anyone who does, then get them to explain to the G.L.C.B what has happened and see if they are willing to cut you some slack for the fact that it was not directly you that allowed the gym to decline. Besides, anyone who knows you well enough should know that you would never allow such a thing to happen. If you can do that, then you should have a strong chance of getting the Board's backing, but don't sit on your laurels if you can get someone in the P.I.A to help you, get everyone you know with credibility to back you, regardless," she ordered.

"Don't worry, I will, I'm not going to just throw this away... I'm not like my sisters," she spoke the end of her sentence with malice, through clenched teeth and glaring at the floor.

"Good girl, and hey, look at me," Lorelai commanded with a soothing voice.

"Hmm?" Misty mumbled, looking back up, the hate gone from her eyes in an instant.

"Whatever happens, you're not alone in this. From all the things you've told me over the last six months, I'd say there's a lot of people out there who would bend over backwards to help you out," she assured Misty. "I reckon I'm looking at one of those people right now!" she smiled, looking at Ash who, unbeknownst to Misty, was standing right behind her.

"Ah! How long have you been standing there Ash?" Misty asked.

"Not long, just long enough to listen to Lorelai's advice. Thanks for helping us out by the way," he said, looking at the screen.

"Yes, thank you so much Lorelai, I'm so grateful you wouldn't believe it. You've been a great help, as always!" Misty said with a grateful smile.

"Think nothing of it, it's the least I can do. When you think about it if I had declined to let you be my understudy you wouldn't have been in this predicament. I've got to go now, Misty, keep your chin up," there was reassurance in her voice and it was a great comfort to Misty, who nodded solemnly.

After Lorelai ended the conversation, Misty turned to Ash expectantly. "So how did your brainstorming go, you got some names?"

"Oh yes, I doubt you'll be particularly surprised by any of them when you hear them, you probably would have thought of them yourself sooner or later," although there was no malice or dissatisfaction in his voice, Misty felt a little stung by the way he had phrased that last part, like he would have rather be continuing his quest for the remaining Hoenn league badges.

"Well, maybe I just wanted the company for once, if that's not too much to ask," she said bitterly, though she immediately regretted accusing him of not wanting to be there.

"What?" said Ash, taken aback by the sudden vitriol. It took him a second or two to suss out what he had said wrong. "Oh, wait, I didn't mean it like it sounded, that was a poor choice of words, sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," she comforted him, not turning away from the videophone screen to look at Ash out of shame for having a go at one of the few people who cared enough about her to actively help her out. Still not turning to look at him she spoke. "I knew what you really meant, I shouldn't have snapped like that, I just... You know, I'm frazzled at the moment, we seem to have a plan in the making and it makes sense, but there's so many pieces that need to be put into place before I can take on the G.L.C," her voice and tempo was starting to rise as the sheer scale of the mountain she knew she had to climb began to loom over her, casting deep shadows of doubt over her previous determination. "And even if we do get those pieces in place, there's still no guarantee that I'll win this years G.L.C, even after all the training I've done with Lorelai," she rubbed her hands up her forehead and into her hair to try to calm herself down.

"It doesn't end there either, even if I win the tournament, there's no guarantee that when I get back here the gym won't have already been sold to someone else. Then there's the prize money itself; there will only be enough to buy the gym back and pay for the basic furnishings that water Pokémon and an official gym needs. Sure I'll have the gym back but it'll be a shade of what it used to be and I don't know how I'm going to get the money needed to bring it all back!" she sunk her head between her arms, which were propped on her legs, and lock her fingers behind her head.

She was quiet, save for some erratic, short, sharp breathing, in fact it seemed quite quiet all around them. Ash looked down, hearing a very faint 'pat' noise, like a small raindrop hitting a window and saw a droplet of water between Misty's feet, glistening on the cold, hard plastic surface of the Pokémon Centre.

"Pika?" said Pikachu, rather mutely, who was standing by Ash's feet and cocking his head to one side.

Ash blinked slowly, he had never seen Misty shed tears before. He'd seen her when she was sad even depressed, but she'd never shed tears in front of him before. Mentally it was like being woken up by a slap in the face for Ash, for now he truly understood now how gravely this was affecting Misty and how much support she really needed; her emotional stability was on a knife edge. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, making her twitch slightly and spoke to her softly.

"Hey, come on Misty. You I have been through a lot over the years, life and death struggles in some cases. I know it seems bad right now, but that's only because we know exactly what we're up against and what we need to do. But it's good that we know what we're up against because this way we can actually think carefully about how we're going to deal with it instead of performing a spontaneous reaction like we used to do so many times in the past."

Misty rose up from her seat, bleary eyed and hugged Ash with all she had, a hug which Ash returned.

"I know," she whimpered on his shoulder. "I'm just so scared of losing my gym forever, you know? I never thought for a second I could lose it so easily and yet here I am on the brink of exactly that," she wiped her eyes with her lose hand.

"You won't lose it Misty, I promise I won't let that happen, not whilst I'm able to do something about it and I'm not going anywhere until there is absolutely nothing more I can do. I also have here a list of names of people who are going to do everything they can, along with me, to pull you away from the brink," Ash said with rock hard resolve.

Breaking from their hug, she wiped her eyes, cracked a small smile and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Thank you, Ash. Just you being here means the world to me right now. I don't think there's anyone out there who's as reliable as you are. I don't know how you do it sometimes."

"Pika-pi!" interrupted Pikachu, looking up expectantly at Misty.

"And of course there's Ash's cute, stalwart friend!" perked up Misty, stooping down to pick up the unusually quiet Pikachu and hugged him, giving him a kiss on his furry forehead in the process, which received a delighted "Cha!" from Pikachu. "You've probably saved Ash's behind as many, if not more times, than he has yours you loveable little thing!"

Ash smiled at them both. "So, you want to see this list?" he asked.

"Sure!" she said, clearly perking up.

Ash was right, the list was not particularly surprising to her, but it was a good start and she knew there would be no problem with any of those on the list throwing their hats into the ring.

"That's a great start Ash, there's a lot of influence in these people, thanks!"

"Hey, no problem, but this is just beginning. Lorelai said something about knowing someone in the P.I.A? Any idea who could help us with that one?"

"Umm..." Misty trailed off for a moment, when suddenly her eyebrows twitched and her eyes lit up.

"Of course, how could I have been so stupid. Ash, do you remember that story I told you a while back about when I first started taking over this gym shortly after I left you and Brock?" she asked expectantly.

"Oh, yeah, you fought those three jerks we fought in Viridian City, what were their names again?" he asked.

"Well, by the time I fought them in Cerulean they were calling themselves 'The Invincible Pokémon Brothers', but you remember me telling you about Joy, who I thought was a nurse Joy, but was actually an Agent Joy working for the P.I.A?"

"That's right, I remember! Have you kept in contact with her since then? I mean, I know you left on good terms with each other but that was quite a long time ago for you to suddenly contact her now and ask her a favour like this," Ash pointed out.

"I might be able to help out with that, if Agent Joy is unwilling," came a voice from from behind them. Looking around they realised that nurse Joy was looking eagerly at them.

"You'd do that? Oh nurse Joy, you're so awesome!" exclaimed a delighted Misty. "With your help, Agent Joy is sure to be willing to help me out!" a furrow of concern formed on her face however. "What do I tell her, though? I'm sure she must have known about the gym's closure, how am I going to explain that one to her?" she mused.

"Tell her the truth of course," said Ash. "Sure you may have been the official gym leader but when you left, the leadership came to your sister's role, you've got nothing to be ashamed of here, you were the one that was let down, you didn't let down the gym," he assured her.

"You're right, no point making excuses, it'll just come back to bite me if I did," she agreed with him. "Right, so I need to get into contact with her now and whilst I'm doing that can you call those people on your list Ash and ask them to speak to the G.L.C.B, please? After I've called Agent Joy I also need to go and speak to the Cerulean City Council and see if there's anyway I can get them to stall selling the gym, even once the contractors have finished doing what they're doing. Not sure how much luck I'm going to have with that one though, but it's worth a shot," she announced.

"OK, if you think it's going to be worth it Misty, then I won't stop you." said Ash.

"Might I suggest you seek the help of Officer Jenny, Misty?" suggested Joy. " After all you've done in the past for Cerulean in taking care of Team Rocket's goons and their lieutenants, Butch and Cassidy, it would definitely help you to have a respected member of the law enforcement community on your side."

"That's a good idea, I hadn't thought of Officer Jenny," replied Misty. "I'll go and find her, see if she can put in a word to the council or even accompany me when I go to see them and then I'll come back here, but only once I've spoken to Agent Joy first," she then turned to Ash. "You'll be fine dealing with everyone here whilst I'm gone won't you Ash?"

"Sure, don't worry about me, I'll take the opportunity to talk to my mum whilst I'm talking to professor Oak, I'm sure that'll take up a lot of time," he said aloud. _"But whilst you're out I can use it as an opportunity to cast out a few other lines that would help you beyond what you may be anticipating," _was what the young man schemed inside his head.

And so the pieces on the proverbial chess board were steadily put into place; Misty and Nurse Joy contacted Agent Joy, who fondly remembered Misty and firmly believed that had Misty been the attending gym leader and never left, the gym would certainly not have fallen into the closable state that it did. Whilst she was unable to do anything about the gym itself, she was willing to have the gym's status officially changed from 'closed' to 'undergoing renovations', which provided a loophole within the rules and bureaucracy of the G.L.C.B that Misty might be able to jump through and gain entry into the G.L.C.

However, because the gym was not complete, Misty could not officially be classified as the Cerulean gym leader, which meant that there was always the possibility that the G.L.C.B would turn around and refuse her on this basis. Of the plan to enter the G.L.C, Agent Joy was sceptical that it would work, but was willing to give Misty the benefit of the doubt and put in a word to the Board personally. It was a gesture Misty was wholeheartedly grateful for and thanked her lucky stars she had managed to get a major player onto her side.

Ash meanwhile had also jumped into his task of contacting important people. He had matters he wished to discuss with Professors Oak, Gary Oak, Ivy, Elm and Birch outside of Misty's earshot so he decided to contact them last, hoping that his conversations with Brock and Lance would last long enough so that by the time he needed to talk to the professors, Misty would be heading into town to speak with the Cerulean City Council.

"First up to the plate will be Brock," said Ash.

"Pi-Pikachu!" squealed Pikachu.

"Yeah, it'll be good to see him again," agreed Ash, pinning in Brock's contact number.

After a few moments a familiar, friendly face appeared on the video screen and smiled at Ash. "Ash! Pikachu! Good to see you! How are your travels in Hoenn going?" asked Brock, inquisitively.

"Uh, they're on temporary hold at the moment Brock, something came up that I wasn't expecting," replied Ash, cryptically.

"Oh man, you met a girl didn't you?" said Brock with mock accusation. The question took Ash rather off guard.

"What? No, don't be crazy! Well, it's not like that. I mean you're only partially right," Ash stammered, much to Brock's mirth. Something in the back of Ash's mind made him snap to attention and frown at Brock. "For that matter why would you instantly assume that the reason I went off track in pursuing the Hoenn League would be because of a girl? Have I developed an unfounded reputation or something?" Ash's concerned expression seemed to amuse Brock only further.

"Ha! No, not at all, I just assumed that would be the cause. After all it would have been the only thing that would have derailed my ambitions when I was your age!" he smiled.

"Yes Brock, but you get distracted by pretty much anything resembling a woman so that's not really saying much," retorted Ash with a smirk.

"Humph!" huffed Brock, folding his arms.

"Anyway," continued Ash. "In a manner of speaking yes, I was distracted from my travels by a woman, but not for the reasons you were insinuating; I got a call from nurse Joy over in Cerulean City saying that Misty was in serious trouble and had asked for me to come and help. As it turns out she is in pretty big trouble and I'm doing what I can to assist and that's where you come in, Brock."

"What happened, what's wrong with Misty?" asked Brock, genuine concern now in his voice and etched on his face.

"It's a long story, so I hope you've got time." said Ash a little despondently.

"I have the time now, go on," encouraged Brock.

Ash told an astonished Brock all that had happened and by the end of it Brock was fuming at Daisy, Violet and Lily, to the point Ash was not sure whether to be more worried about Misty or Brock.

"Uh, you alright there Brock?" he asked, tentatively.

"How could they do that to their own sister?" was the growled, rhetorical response. "I think of all the things I had to do for my younger brothers and sisters and all the things I willingly sacrificed to take care of them and run the gym at the same time when mum and dad weren't around. I did all that on my own and between the three of them they couldn't keep Misty's gym running. They should be ashamed of themselves!" he cursed.

"I suspect they are, they haven't shown up here at all today. Either that or they're too scared to. After Misty hit Daisy, I wouldn't be surprised either way," he stopped to bend slightly closer to the screen so that Brock could hear him as he spoke softly. "Unfortunately, I need to speak to them myself, on behalf of Misty, though she doesn't know it of course." confided Ash.

"Are you sure you should do that Ash? I know you like trying to fix everything that's wrong around you but this might be too personal for Misty for you to get involved in," advised Brock.

"Don't worry, I'm playing this one close to the chest and I won't take any unnecessary risks. Misty is a long way away from forgiving them for this and even I can't tell if she will ever want to speak to them. What I'm going to do though is provide those three with an opportunity to at least pay their penance for all this. I don't see why they would be unwilling, it's the least they can do for her. Oh, wait, she's coming, act normal," he hissed.

"Hey Brock! Good to see you, how are you doing?" chirped Misty

"Not bad Misty, well, pretty inflamed about what's happened to you though. I can barely believe it myself, sorry you've got to pick up the pieces and all."

"So am I," said Misty in a low tone. "Still, all I can do now is plan ahead and rectify this mess and I'm hoping you'll be able to have a hand in doing that."

"It'd be my pleasure, Ash has told me what he wants me to do and it's no skin off my back. If there's anything else I can help you with you just let me know and I'll be on it!" he promised them.

"Thanks Brock, we owe you one!" smiled Ash.

"Yeah, I won't forget this Brock, thank you," affirmed Misty.

"Think nothing of it. Now, please excuse me guys, I have some Pokémon that need my attention, I will speak to you later, I'm sure," he said, a scuffling noise emanating from somewhere behind him.

"Yeah, see you later Brock, we'll let you know how Misty's appeal to the Board went," with that Ash shut off the video phone.

"Next up, Lance," said Ash with accomplishment, smiling at Misty. "How did the conversation with Agent Joy go?" he asked.

"Totally successful and then some, things are looking good for my entry into the G.L.C." she said with a relieved confidence. "And now I'm off to find officer Jenny, see if she has a moment to spare to either speak to the council on her own or come with me so we can speak to them together, then I'm going to go to the Council, hopefully I'll be able to collar at least one of their members and persuade them to do... something, I don't really know what. I guess anything that would give me an edge in buying back the place once the contractors are finished."

"Officer Jenny, huh? Well, whatever advantage you can get I suppose. Good luck, I'm sure you'll be successful," he reassured her. "While you get all that done, I'm going to keep on working through the list. I'm guessing you could be out for at least an hour or two depending on how long it takes you to find Officer Jenny. I'll still be here anyway."

"Thanks, Ash. I'll see you later!" she said, ambling out of the Pokémon Centre.

Ash and Joy watched Misty walk out of their line of sight, then Joy turned to Ash with a warm smile and an appreciative look.

"You know, maybe I've just had bad experiences or I haven't looked hard enough, but there aren't enough men out there who are willing to come as far a distance as you have and go to all this trouble to help out someone who was anything less than a family member. Even Misty wasn't sure if you'd be able to get here. It's good to see you're as capable as you are willing and for all that you're doing for her I'm surprised Misty doesn't show a greater degree of affection towards you," she said provocatively.

"Huh, I get what you're saying nurse Joy," said Ash knowingly. "But Misty and I have only ever been friends and I doubt I'll ever be more than just a friend she can count on and occasionally goof off with or shout at where needed," he mused. "And it's worked out pretty well so far, so I doubt that's going to change."

"If you say so, Ash. All I know is there are women out there who would kill for a guy as dependable as you."

"Well, be that as it may, even if we did see each other as anything more than just friends, we've got other priorities. Misty aims to be the best water Pokémon trainer there is and I intend to be the most powerful all-round trainer there is. Until we reach those points, everything else, particularly relationships, must be put on hold," he said, matter-of-factly. Nurse Joy gave a concessionary blink of her eyes and went back to her own tasks.

"By the way Nurse Joy," said Ash. "Is there anything you can do to help Misty with the Council? Do you know anyone who knows them?"

"I'm way ahead of you Ash, as a public servant myself, like Officer Jenny, I am familiar with the council members so I'm just typing up an e-mail to the council letting my thoughts on the subject known. Plus, giving the council the heads up that Misty is on her way will probably make things easier on Misty; an unexpected confrontation may make them more likely to give a negative response."

"Good work, thanks Joy," he said, turning back to his task.

His conversation with Lance went well; the G-man and Elite Four member was due to go on leave shortly from his official duties as a G-man and was in high spirits and also had some free time on his hands. He casually noted that Team Rocket had been unusually quiet as of late, which was not actually as comforting as it should have been; usually when Team Rocket go silent, it's normally the calm before the storm and Lance was hoping they would hold out from causing any mischief until after his holiday.

He was happy to oblige Ash's request to lend his voice to Misty's cause upon hearing the story and Ash was duly glad. To stall for some time, and also because he was genuinely interested, Ash conversed with Lance about how his Pokémon, particularly his unique and fearsome red Gyarados were doing and how life was treating him. Eventually Ash felt he should drag the conversation on no further, though Lance had a few interesting stories to tell, he thanked the blood-red haired man for his help and bade him farewell.

"Good," said Ash. "That brings another member of the Elite four onto our side. Now to speak to Professor Oak."

Ash had begun typing in the number for Professor Oak, when he heard the sliding glass front door open and close. He did not turn at first, he figured it must have been a trainer looking to make use of the Pokémon centre, until he heard nurse Joy's opening greeting, which was quite unlike her normal approachable self.

"Well, isn't this a surprise?" her tone sharp and uninviting, Ash tweaked his head slightly, feeling it not yet appropriate to intrude, but his attention now focused on what was going on behind him as Nurse Joy continued. "I'm surprised you have the nerve to show up here, I'm assuming you're looking for your sister."

At that last comment it dawned on Ash who had just walked in the door. He flinched slightly at the realisation, his own temper flaring. He hadn't given much thought to what he'd open up with when he met Daisy, Violet and Lily. He wanted to get up and confront them, let them know how angry he was at them for their callous behaviour. He got out of his chair and turned to see Misty's three sisters and his anger subsided in a flash as he caught sight of Daisy, who, despite a clear attempt to disguise it with make-up, sported a cruel looking bruise that spread across an alarming portion of her right cheek; Misty's hand had done it's damage.

He felt no sympathy for her though, as far as he was concerned she had paid a small and temporary price and Violet and Lily were unscathed, he folded in arms, as he looked at them, a gesture of defiance and distrust, but he said nothing, letting the sisters answer Nurse Joy's question.

"Yes, we thought Misty would be here, or at least would have come here recently," replied Daisy, the bite of the bruise forcing her to move her mouth as little as she could spare, making her speech a little stifled. "We were hoping we could speak to her. We were hoping that she'd be willing to speak to us, though we understand if she doesn't."

"She isn't here at the moment," intruded Ash, finally getting the girl's attention. "Though even if she were here, I would advise against approaching her. I can't vouch that she wouldn't try to make your face symmetrical, Daisy," he indicated to her cheek. "Or that she wouldn't turn her attention to you two and make your cheeks three of a kind. She is that furious at you still."

All three women, Daisy in particular, looked downcast at the news. They had hoped that what she had said yesterday was nothing more than spur of the moment anger and that a day away from them would give Misty a chance to cool down to the point where they could approach her but they were sadly mistaken. They were also surprised to see Ash here, as they were under the impression he was out and about.

"I suppose your here to comfort Misty then, Ash?" asked Daisy. "For what it's worth, thank you. We know we've royally screwed up things here, we want to do what we can to amend what we've allowed to happen. Though we're not sure how to go about doing that exactly," she looked at Ash, a hopeful glint in her eye, maybe he could offer them a lifeline, something they could do to redeem themselves or at least show that they were willing to do so.

Ash had already thought about what they could do and gave them a brief, wry, half smile.

"There's nothing you can do for Misty at the present time. However I have an idea that in the long term may be your act of penance. There is one small problem with the plan though; it requires something of you three that I'm not exactly confident right now that your are capable of doing," he said doubtfully.

"What is that? What will we need to do?" asked Lily intently.

"To work damn hard and exercise a sense of self control and forethought until the gym is back in Misty's hands and fully restored and maybe more," even as he said it he was in serious doubt as to whether the sisters could be relied upon for this, so he decided to give them some incentive.

"I will expand on what I mean by all that in a second, but let me assure you first that if you don't do this she might never forgive you. I'm hoping that'll be enough to convince you to agree to what I'm asking. I cannot assure you that she will forgive you if you do as I ask, but I can assure you she won't if you don't. Of course if over the next year your resolution should waver on this promise, I can assure you that you will have more than just Misty to worry about, because I don't like being betrayed and I hate people betraying those I care about even more. Just ask Jesse and James of Team Rocket," there was menace in his voice that caught the sister's attention.

"OK, yeah, we'll do it, we want our sister back, we'll do whatever it takes!" implored Daisy.

"I hope you remember this for however long it takes," said Ash, his face easing up a little. "Here's what we will need you to do," he began.

The sisters listened intently to what Ash had to say and despite their promise to him, they did seem rather taken aback, to which Ash reminded them at the end of his demand that they owed Misty one hell of a debt and that, in a way, they were actually getting off lightly. He certainly felt they were getting off easily at any rate. After the conversation had ended, the three sisters left leaving Ash to carry on with his calls.

It was a relief for Ash that his remaining calls went well, all the professors were sympathetic to Misty's cause and were willing to pitch in, not only to help Misty get into the G.L.C but also with the other favour for Misty that he hadn't mentioned to her; In his quick thinking he hoped to arrange a nice surprise for Misty. However he suspected it may be a little beyond the professor's willingness or capabilities to do, but he saw no harm in trying and to his delight and intense gratitude they were at least willing to look into avenues of assistance. Gary took a little more persuading than the others, because he wasn't sure he felt he was high enough in authority to get those around him to look the other way; he was a great and respected researcher, however he did not have the years under his belt and prestige the way his grandfather did. Ultimately Ash still won him over, and his capitulation meant a great deal to Ash, who promised to visit him sometime after he competed in the Hoenn League.

By the time Ash had finished making his final call a large portion of the day had disappeared and it was only then that he realised that he had missed his lunch by several hours and his stomach was letting him know it, as was Pikachu, who had been unusually quite and stoic during the proceedings, though Ash figured Pikachu had decided to not impede his master's progress. They both wanted lunch but decided they would wait until Misty returned from meeting the Council.

They would have to wait another hour before Misty returned to the Pokémon Centre, when she returned, she looked tired, but relieved. Much to Ash's pleasure the meeting had gone well. Although the Council couldn't stop the stripping of the gym as that would be a breach of their contract, they were willing to give Misty the benefit of the doubt and give her priority when it came to selling the land; ultimately they liked Misty, she had been a pillar of the community for some time, as Officer Jenny, who came with her also pointed out and the council felt that it would be unjust to sell the gym to anyone before giving her a chance to make an offer of her own. The only stipulation they had was that she make an offer to them within a week of the G.L.C finishing, if she could do that and make the offer a reasonable sum, then she would have it back. All this she explained to Ash, Pikachu and nurse Joy, all of whom were delighted.

"Misty that's great!" exclaimed Ash, putting his hands on her shoulders. "All the pieces are starting to fall into place, you just watch, you'll have your gym back before you know it!"

Misty gave Ash a grateful smile for his encouragement and hooked her hands on his forearms. "I know, but we're not there yet. Now I need to make that appeal to the G.L.C.B and then we'll see where I'm really at," she reminded him.

"Not until we've had a late lunch, I don't know if you've had any but Pikachu and I haven't," stated Ash.

"Sounds good to me, I'm famished!" replied Misty. "How about we go out and find a place to eat?"

"Pikachu!" squeaked Pikachu, keen on the idea.

"Well that settles it then!" decided Ash.

The three departed the Pokémon Centre in search of a restaurant or fast food outlet and it wasn't long until they happened upon a pleasant little eatery that Misty was familiar with. They spent their time reminiscing about old times and past adventures, whilst waiting for their food. All the while their troubles dissipating, which noticeably brightened Misty's face, which Ash picked up on and found himself smiling all the more.

After paying the bill for their meal, Misty looked over at Ash, smiling. "I enjoyed this Ash, I've needed this. You should come back to Cerulean more often!"

Ash gave her a smile of his own. "If it means you'll smile like that more often then maybe I'll take you up on the suggestion," his words were sincere and Misty knew it, making her only beam even more.

Saying no more they paid the bill, got up and left for the Pokémon centre where Misty would file her appeal. When they got to the Pokémon Centre she sent a video message to the board explaining her position and what she was asking for. She also ensured to let them know that they would probably be contacted by other people supporting her as she felt it wouldn't be wise to hold back that fact; the Board might react badly to being blind sided by people supporting Misty.

After all was said and done it was finally time for Misty to decide what she was going to do to occupy herself in the meantime. She was sure the board would take it's time to decide what to do and if they gave her the go ahead then she would need to get a lot of training in to ensure she had the best chance of winning the Gym Leaders Championship.

Voicing this to Ash, brought him to another idea, one that he knew Misty would relish the chance of doing.

"Why don't you come with me?" he said, looking at her, noticing her surprise at the suggestion.

"What, wait, are you sure?" she asked. "You're meant to be concentrating on training for the Hoenn League, I've distracted you from that enough as it is, I'll only take your mind off it more!" Misty protested, though the back of her mind was screaming at her to go with Ash.

"Nonsense," said Ash. "We both need the training, and that means we can train with and against each other whenever we feel the need to, I only need to take on three more gyms before I'm eligible to contest the Hoenn League, and we can do that in the time it will take for the Gym Leaders Championship to come around and if you come with me you can test yourself and what you've learned from Lorelai against those remaining gym leaders in unofficial battles. Plus we get to travel around together like old times, it makes perfect sense!" he explained.

"Pika-Pika!" chimed in Pikachu, hopping into Misty's lap, looking excitable.

Misty did not need much persuading, she wanted to get away from Cerulean for a while and Ash was right, it did make sense for her to go with him.

"Alright, let's do it, let's go to Hoenn!" she said with glee.

"Great! Fortree City, here we come!" proclaimed Ash.

"Pika-Pi!" squeaked Pikachu, jumping up and down with excitement.

At last they were leaving Cerulean City, heading for Hoenn on the back of Charizard, who was also pleased to see Misty again and was more than happy to let her have a ride. This time though, Ash ordered Charizard to take it easy as there was no rush. Pikachu sat in Ash's backpack enjoying the view and Misty sat behind Ash, her arms wrapped around his waist for stability. Nurse Joy had been good enough to make them some sandwiches for the long journey, which they accepted gratefully. Misty also told nurse Joy to tell her sisters, should she see them, that she had left with Ash to Hoenn for a while and that they were not to try to contact her. Nurse joy didn't seem too thrilled at the task but said she would nonetheless.

The return journey to Hoenn was long, but relaxing for them both, so much so Misty started dozing off. Noticing this, Ash turned his ruck sack around so it was attached to him from the front, allowing Misty to use his back as something to rest on, where the rucksack would have been uncomfortable.

Pretty soon, after the sun set on the horizon and darkness enveloped them, Misty fell asleep, whilst feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of Ash's back as he breathed, but not before mumbling, "Thank you for everything Ash, I knew I could count on you."

"Don't mention it," was his simple reply as sleep took her.


End file.
